Can Artificial Intelligence Help to Prevent and Manage Oral Infections: A Review
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Abstract
Introduction: This study aimed to answer “Can artificial intelligence help to prevent and manage oral infections? How can it help us? What we know and what we do not know?”. Materials and Methods: Artificial intelligence-driven Internet of Things systems enable real-time monitoring of the oral environment and early identification of cariogenic and inflammatory factors. In the present narrative review, the authors used keywords such as “Artificial Intelligence”, “Biofilms”, “Dental Caries”, “Internet of Things”, and “Periodontitis”. They conducted a literature search via Google Scholar and PubMed from January 2015 to November 2025.Results: Artificial intelligence algorithms have shown high accuracy in diagnosing oral and periodontal diseases, predicting microbial resistance, and optimizing antimicrobial therapies. Integration of artificial intelligence with antimicrobial robots represents a promising approach for biofilm detection, degradation, and targeted removal. These technologies collectively enhance personalized dental care and support preventive, data-based decision-making in dentistry. Conclusion: Artificial intelligence and Internet of Things integration offer transformative potential in oral healthcare by improving early detection, prevention, and management of oral infections. However, further clinical studies, data standardization, and ethical considerations are necessary for safe and effective implementation of these technologies in dental practice. Keywords: Artificial intelligence; Biofilms; Dental caries; Internet of things; Periodontitis.
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2. Watts A. Dental Caries: the disease and its clinical management. Eur J Dent Educ 2004;8:140.
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4. Saini R, Saini S, Sharma S. Biofilm: a dental microbial infection. J Nat Sci Biol Med 2011;2:71.
5. Afrasiabi S, Pourhajibagher M, Chiniforush N, Aminian M, Bahador A. Anti-biofilm and anti-metabolic effects of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy using chlorophyllin-phycocyanin mixture against streptococcus mutans in experimental biofilm caries model on enamel slabs. Photodiagnosis Photodyn Ther 2020;29:101620.
6. Turajane K, Ji G, Chinenov Y, et al. RNA-seq analysis of peri-implant tissue shows differences in immune, notch, wnt, and angiogenesis pathways in aged versus young mice. JBMR Plus 2021;5:e10535.
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8. Ghassib I, Chen Z, Zhu J, Wang HL. Use of IL-1 β, IL-6, TNF-α, and MMP-8 biomarkers to distinguish peri-implant diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Implant Dent Relat Res 2019;21:190-207.
9. Afrashtehfar KI, Esfandiari S. Five things to know about peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis. J N J Dent Assoc 2017;88:24-5.
10. Salagare S, Prasad R. Internet of dental things (IoDT), intraoral wireless sensors, and teledentistry: a novel model for prevention of dental caries. Wirel Pers Commun 2022;123:1-2.
11. Alauddin MS, Baharuddin AS, Ghazali MIM. The modern and digital transformation of oral health care: a mini review. Healthc 2021;9:118.
12. Salagare S, Prasad R. An overview of internet of dental things: new frontier in advanced dentistry. Wirel Pers Commun 2020;110:1345-71.
13. David L, Brata AM, Mogosan C, et al. Artificial intelligence and antibiotic discovery. Antibiotics 2021;10:1376.
14. Cooke J, Llor C, Hopstaken R, Dryden M, Butler C. Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) in primary care: narrative review of c reactive protein (CRP) point-of-care testing (POCT) and antibacterial use in patients who present with symptoms of RTI. BMJ Open Respir Res 2020;7:e000624.
15. Rajpurkar P, Chen E, Banerjee O, Topol EJ. AI in health and medicine. Nat Med 2022;28:31-8.
16. Premkumar G, Roberts M. Adoption of new information technologies in rural small businesses. Omega. 1999;27:467-84.
17. Zanella A, Bui N, Castellani A, Vangelista L, Zorzi M. Internet of things for smart cities. IEEE Internet Things J 2014;1:22-32.
18. Alansari Z, Soomro S, Belgaum MR, Shamshirband S. The rise of internet of things (IoT) in big healthcare data: review and open research issues. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing 2018; 564:675-85.
19. Gao W, Emaminejad S, Nyein HYY, et al. Fully integrated wearable sensor arrays for multiplexed in situ perspiration analysis. Nature 2016;529:509-14.
20. Deng YY, Chen CL, Tsaur WJ, Tang YW, Chen JH. Internet of things (IoT) based design of a secure and lightweight body area network (BAN) healthcare system. Sensors (Switzerland) 2017;17:2919.
21. Balaji Ganesh S, Sugumar K. Internet of things—a novel innovation in dentistry. J Adv Oral Res 2021;12:42-8.
22. Razdan S, Sharma S. Internet of medical things (IoMT): overview, emerging technologies, and case studies. IETE Tech Rev 2022;39:775-88.
23. Naresh VS, Pericherla SS, Murty PSR, Reddi S. Internet of things in healthcare: architecture, applications, challenges, and solutions. Comput Syst Sci Eng 2020;35:411-21.
24. Dash S, Shakyawar SK, Sharma M, Kaushik S. Big data in healthcare: management, analysis and future prospects. J Big Data 2019;6:1-25.
25. Ossowska A, Kusiak A, Świetlik D. Artificial intelligence in dentistry—narrative review. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022;19:3449.
26. Tandon D, Rajawat J. Present and future of artificial intelligence in dentistry. J Oral Biol Craniofacial Res 2020;10:391-6.
27. Akst J. A Primer: Artificial intelligence versus neural networks. Sci 2019;1-2.
28. Mekonnen Y, Namuduri S, Burton L, Sarwat A, Bhansali S. Machine learning techniques in wireless sensor network based precision agriculture. J Electrochem Soc 2020;167:037522.
29. Montoya C, Roldan L, Yu M, et al. Smart dental materials for antimicrobial applications. Bioact Mater 2023;24:1-9.
30. Hwang G, Paula AJ, Hunter EE, et al. Catalytic antimicrobial robots for biofilm eradication. Sci Robot 2019;4:eaaw2388.
31. Koo H, Allan RN, Howlin RP, Stoodley P, Hall-Stoodley L. Targeting microbial biofilms: current and prospective therapeutic strategies. Nat Rev Microbiol 2017;15:740-55.
32. Lau HJ, Lim CH, Foo SC, Tan HS. The role of artificial intelligence in the battle against antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. Curr Genet 2021;67:421-9.
33. Lv J, Deng S, Zhang L. A review of artificial intelligence applications for antimicrobial resistance. Biosaf Heal 2021;3:22-31.
34. Rawson TM, Wilson RC, O’Hare D, et al. Optimizing antimicrobial use: challenges, advances and opportunities. Nat Rev Microbiol 2021;19:747-58.
35. Seneviratne CJ, Balan P, Suriyanarayanan T, et al. Oral microbiome-systemic link studies: perspectives on current limitations and future artificial intelligence-based approaches. Crit Rev Microbiol 2020;46:288-99.
2. Watts A. Dental Caries: the disease and its clinical management. Eur J Dent Educ 2004;8:140.
3. Díaz-Garrido N, Lozano CP, Kreth J, Giacaman RA. Competition and caries on enamel of a dual-species biofilm model with streptococcus mutans and streptococcus sanguinis. Appl Environ Microbiol 2020;86:e01262-20.
4. Saini R, Saini S, Sharma S. Biofilm: a dental microbial infection. J Nat Sci Biol Med 2011;2:71.
5. Afrasiabi S, Pourhajibagher M, Chiniforush N, Aminian M, Bahador A. Anti-biofilm and anti-metabolic effects of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy using chlorophyllin-phycocyanin mixture against streptococcus mutans in experimental biofilm caries model on enamel slabs. Photodiagnosis Photodyn Ther 2020;29:101620.
6. Turajane K, Ji G, Chinenov Y, et al. RNA-seq analysis of peri-implant tissue shows differences in immune, notch, wnt, and angiogenesis pathways in aged versus young mice. JBMR Plus 2021;5:e10535.
7. Milinkovic I, Djinic Krasavcevic A, Nikolic N, et al. Notch down-regulation and inflammatory cytokines and RANKL overexpression involvement in peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis: a cross-sectional study. Clin Oral Implants Res 2021;32:1496-505.
8. Ghassib I, Chen Z, Zhu J, Wang HL. Use of IL-1 β, IL-6, TNF-α, and MMP-8 biomarkers to distinguish peri-implant diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Implant Dent Relat Res 2019;21:190-207.
9. Afrashtehfar KI, Esfandiari S. Five things to know about peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis. J N J Dent Assoc 2017;88:24-5.
10. Salagare S, Prasad R. Internet of dental things (IoDT), intraoral wireless sensors, and teledentistry: a novel model for prevention of dental caries. Wirel Pers Commun 2022;123:1-2.
11. Alauddin MS, Baharuddin AS, Ghazali MIM. The modern and digital transformation of oral health care: a mini review. Healthc 2021;9:118.
12. Salagare S, Prasad R. An overview of internet of dental things: new frontier in advanced dentistry. Wirel Pers Commun 2020;110:1345-71.
13. David L, Brata AM, Mogosan C, et al. Artificial intelligence and antibiotic discovery. Antibiotics 2021;10:1376.
14. Cooke J, Llor C, Hopstaken R, Dryden M, Butler C. Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) in primary care: narrative review of c reactive protein (CRP) point-of-care testing (POCT) and antibacterial use in patients who present with symptoms of RTI. BMJ Open Respir Res 2020;7:e000624.
15. Rajpurkar P, Chen E, Banerjee O, Topol EJ. AI in health and medicine. Nat Med 2022;28:31-8.
16. Premkumar G, Roberts M. Adoption of new information technologies in rural small businesses. Omega. 1999;27:467-84.
17. Zanella A, Bui N, Castellani A, Vangelista L, Zorzi M. Internet of things for smart cities. IEEE Internet Things J 2014;1:22-32.
18. Alansari Z, Soomro S, Belgaum MR, Shamshirband S. The rise of internet of things (IoT) in big healthcare data: review and open research issues. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing 2018; 564:675-85.
19. Gao W, Emaminejad S, Nyein HYY, et al. Fully integrated wearable sensor arrays for multiplexed in situ perspiration analysis. Nature 2016;529:509-14.
20. Deng YY, Chen CL, Tsaur WJ, Tang YW, Chen JH. Internet of things (IoT) based design of a secure and lightweight body area network (BAN) healthcare system. Sensors (Switzerland) 2017;17:2919.
21. Balaji Ganesh S, Sugumar K. Internet of things—a novel innovation in dentistry. J Adv Oral Res 2021;12:42-8.
22. Razdan S, Sharma S. Internet of medical things (IoMT): overview, emerging technologies, and case studies. IETE Tech Rev 2022;39:775-88.
23. Naresh VS, Pericherla SS, Murty PSR, Reddi S. Internet of things in healthcare: architecture, applications, challenges, and solutions. Comput Syst Sci Eng 2020;35:411-21.
24. Dash S, Shakyawar SK, Sharma M, Kaushik S. Big data in healthcare: management, analysis and future prospects. J Big Data 2019;6:1-25.
25. Ossowska A, Kusiak A, Świetlik D. Artificial intelligence in dentistry—narrative review. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022;19:3449.
26. Tandon D, Rajawat J. Present and future of artificial intelligence in dentistry. J Oral Biol Craniofacial Res 2020;10:391-6.
27. Akst J. A Primer: Artificial intelligence versus neural networks. Sci 2019;1-2.
28. Mekonnen Y, Namuduri S, Burton L, Sarwat A, Bhansali S. Machine learning techniques in wireless sensor network based precision agriculture. J Electrochem Soc 2020;167:037522.
29. Montoya C, Roldan L, Yu M, et al. Smart dental materials for antimicrobial applications. Bioact Mater 2023;24:1-9.
30. Hwang G, Paula AJ, Hunter EE, et al. Catalytic antimicrobial robots for biofilm eradication. Sci Robot 2019;4:eaaw2388.
31. Koo H, Allan RN, Howlin RP, Stoodley P, Hall-Stoodley L. Targeting microbial biofilms: current and prospective therapeutic strategies. Nat Rev Microbiol 2017;15:740-55.
32. Lau HJ, Lim CH, Foo SC, Tan HS. The role of artificial intelligence in the battle against antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. Curr Genet 2021;67:421-9.
33. Lv J, Deng S, Zhang L. A review of artificial intelligence applications for antimicrobial resistance. Biosaf Heal 2021;3:22-31.
34. Rawson TM, Wilson RC, O’Hare D, et al. Optimizing antimicrobial use: challenges, advances and opportunities. Nat Rev Microbiol 2021;19:747-58.
35. Seneviratne CJ, Balan P, Suriyanarayanan T, et al. Oral microbiome-systemic link studies: perspectives on current limitations and future artificial intelligence-based approaches. Crit Rev Microbiol 2020;46:288-99.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 13, No 1 (Winter 2026) | |
| Section | Review Article(s) | |
| Keywords | ||
| Artificial intelligence; Biofilms; Dental caries; Internet of things; Periodontitis. | ||
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
How to Cite
1.
Pourhajibagher M, Parker S, Nikparto N, Bahrami R, Bahador A. Can Artificial Intelligence Help to Prevent and Manage Oral Infections: A Review. J Craniomaxillofac Res. 2026;13(1):46-51.
